Christmas is now just three days away and there is no doubt that part of the enjoyment of the festive season is in enjoying delicious food.

But that doesn’t mean Christmas has to be a choice between enjoying yourself and being healthy.

After all, some traditional Christmas foods such as satsumas and the vegetables that form part of Christmas dinner all count towards the five portions of fruits and vegetables we recommend you get every day.

And having a healthy Christmas doesn’t mean you have to deny yourself the occasional mince pie or slice of Christmas cake.

But by keeping an eye on what you’re eating and not overdoing the unhealthy treats, you can go into the New Year without having extra pounds to shift.

If you are looking for inspiration for healthy Christmas recipe ideas, we have come up with two recipes that might fit the bill.

One is for a main meal and the other is for a snack. But what they have in common is that they are both delicious as well as being lower in fat, calories and salt than some other foods on offer at this time of year.

Sweet Veggie Surprise

This delicious Christmas recipe contains two portions of vegetables and is a great idea for a hearty winter meal. Someone made this for a recent WCRF staff lunch and it did not last long!

This recipe will make four servings:

800g/1lb 12oz sweet potatoes, peeled

and cut into small piece

2 tablespoons low-fat spread

Black pepper, to taste

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 small red onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 medium carrot, sliced

1 medium courgette, sliced

1 medium leek, sliced

1) Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas Mark 5.

2) Boil the sweet potatoes until tender and then drain. Mash in a large bowl with the low-fat spread. Season with the black pepper.

3) While the potatoes are boiling, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium high heat. Sauté the onion and garlic until softened and clear in colour, about 4 minutes.

4) Add the carrot, courgette and leek and sauté for about 10 minutes.

5) Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for a further 15 minutes.

6) Add the mushrooms, tomatoes, mixed beans and tomato purée and stir in the herbs.

7) Spoon the vegetable mixture into a shallow, oven-proof dish. Spread the mashed sweet potato on top. Then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Preparation and cooking time: 50 minutes

Calories per serving: 300

Fat per serving: 6g

Salt per serving: 0.5g

You can also sprinkle some sesame seeds and low-fat grated cheese over the top and place under the grill for a few minutes.

Apple, Date and Walnut Muffins

These muffins make the perfect alternative to the traditional mince pie, which can contain more than 200 calories. This recipe will make 15 muffins:

But while meat is only a part of that, it is not insignificant. For example, scientists estimate about 3,800 bowel cancer cases could be prevented in the UK every year if we all ate less than 70g of processed meat a week. This is roughly the equivalent of three rashers of bacon.

In terms of the meat industry “glossing over the dangers of eating meat”, this is not the wording I would use.

But I do think that when the meat industry has an online guide for health professionals called “meat and health” and does not mention the link with cancer, it is not putting across an entirely balanced picture.

But I suppose this is not surprising. To state the obvious, the meat industry’s income depends on people buying meat. So it can hardly be expected to put across a balanced picture on meat and health.

This is where organisations like World Cancer Research Fund come in. The fact that we are funded almost entirely by the generous donations of members of the public means that we can give advice that is balanced.

And I disagree with Chris that we gloss over the nutritional benefits of red meat.

Actually, we agree red meat does have nutritional benefits and, for example, we mention this in our Recommendations booklet.

The nutritional benefits of red meat are the reason we do not recommend people give it up altogether but instead that they limit their consumption.

And just to put this into context, our red meat recommendation is not especially difficult to achieve. A medium portion of roast beef or lamb might have a cooked weight of 90g, which means you could have it five times a week and still meet our recommendation.

But this is not the case with processed meats, which include bacon, ham and some sausages. The evidence shows eating them has a greater increase on your bowel cancer risk than fresh red meat without having any extra nutritional benefits.

This is why we recommend that people avoid eating them.

But, like all our recommendations, it is not a question of all or nothing. Making even a small step in the right direction is still worth doing.

So if you eat a bacon sandwich every day and do not want to give them up completely, cutting down to a couple of times a week is still something positive you can do for your health.

This is because, after not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight is the most important thing you can do for cancer prevention. In fact, there are six types of cancer where there is convincing evidence that excess body fat increases risk, including breast and bowel cancer, two of the most common cancers in the UK.

Not enough people know about the link between obesity and cancer risk. But while raising awareness about the importance of a healthy weight for cancer prevention will make a difference, it is only ever going to be part of the solution.

Our Policy Report set out the changes in society that need to happen to make it easier for people to make the sort of changes that can help prevent cancer, such as more walking and cycling facilities.

Because fruits and vegetables are only linked to risk of certain types of cancer, the percentage of overall cancer cases that could be prevented is quite small

But because there are so many cases of cancer diagnosed every year, this still means thousands of cases could be prevented each year if everyone ate more fruits and vegetables

Even aside from any direct effect of fruits and vegetables on cancer risk, they still play an important role in keeping us healthy, particularly as people who eat plenty of them are still less likely to be overweight

Essentially, these are the findings of WCRF’s 2007 landmark cancer prevention report. They also reflect the findings of a big study on fruits and vegetables and cancer that was published earlier this year, which suggested about 7,000 cases of cancer a year could be prevented in the UK if we all ate an extra two portions a day.

What’s more, these facts are consistent with the findings of this latest review.

So why have studies with similar findings led to such dramatically different headlines?

Well, it’s all a question of emphasis. Essentially, it boils down to whether your glass is half full or half empty.

Some people choose to focus on the fact that we are not certain that fruits and vegetables reduce cancer risk and that the overall proportion of cancer cases they could probably prevent is small.

And this is true.

But at World Cancer Research Fund, we think it is worth encouraging people to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables because the evidence shows they probably reduce cancer risk.

And while the proportion of cancers that could be prevented may be small, this still adds up to thousands of cases in the UK every year. There is also the added benefit that eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is a good way of maintaining a healthy weight.

We are confident in our Recommendation to eat at least five portions of fruits and vegetables as part of a plant-based diet because this is the judgement of an independent panel of 21 world-renowned scientists who made recommendations after looking at all the scientific evidence.

So despite the news stories that say the opposite, people who are concerned about cancer should still eat plenty of fruits and vegetables as part of a wider healthy lifestyle.

The media coverage of this review has been unhelpful. It gives the impression it has found something dramatically new, which it hasn’t.

And it is also likely to reinforce the impression that scientists are always changing their minds or cannot agree about cancer risk. Actually, the advice on how to reduce your risk has not changed that much over the last 10 years and in many areas the evidence behind our Recommendations has become stronger.

We asked YouGov to carry out a survey on this and it found that 27 per cent of people said that, because scientists are always changing their minds, the best approach is to ignore health advice and just eat what you want.

This is why media coverage matters and in fact World Cancer Research Fund’s Policy Report identified the media as one of the nine groups in society that can make changes that can help prevent cancer.